Ten years gone by

One more thing on the oh-so-prevalent news stories of the day, friends.

Ten years ago, when I was in high school, I wrote an article for my town’s paper on homosexuality and the right to marry and asking my community why accepting gay people as one of our own was a problem. This was one of the emails I received:

Dear Jennie,

I read your column in the Chelsea Standard. I know that it is an opinion page , however I would like to ask you if you have done any research into the topic of homosexuality?

To be a responsible journalist you need to write from a view point after researching both sides of an issue. From your writing, it is clear that you are misinformed as to the reality of homosexuality and the effects on the person, marriage, children and
eventually society.

I would encourage you to research this from another angle. Focus on the Family at family.org can provide you with some very interesting data from those who were homosexual and have come out of the lifestyle. The facts and testimonies they will provide you will enlighten you both medically and psychologically. This is a moral issue for many, however if you have ever given blood you will see that the questions asked by the Red Cross highlights the unhealthy and dangerous lifestyle that it is. That is from a medical standpoint, something the activists would like to hide.

Also, you seem to be very critical of conservative people. Are you aware that in the forming of our country, those with conservative (Christian) viewpoint created the law that we now uphold? Our country was founded on these principles. Because of that we are one of the most civilized country in the world. In fact, those without religious convictions could not be involved in most governmental decisions. You are taking a very short sighted view of principles and a value system that has made America what it is. Even if you do not uphold Christian principles, you have to ask yourself where you/others get your morals, or sense of right and wrong? What makes right/right or wrong/wrong?
Yes, there are absolutes in our world. There is cause and effect for immoral behavior.

Have you researched the long term affects of children adopted by homosexuals? Girls growing up with lesbian mothers or boys with no father? Children need both male and female to grow as healthy as possible. That is not what someone dreamed up- that is what is physically necessary to produce children.

These issues not only have moral implications but societal as well. Is it their “right” to have a child in these abnormal circumstances? Is it right that a family with a married man and woman should be denied a child because of homosexual rights to adopt a child? Which family would you have wanted to grow up in?

Are you aware that in California, all children from kindergarten up have to be taught that homosexuality is “normal” and “desirable”? That was the work of homosexual activists. Even though the medical profession admits that homosexual practices are unhealthy and even deadly, they are still touting it as “normal” to children.

Please research this topic from a different perspective being open to something you may not have learned as of yet. Consult Focus on the Family @ family.org for books and articles to read. The Family Research Council in Washington D.C will also provide you with enlightening information. The “Love Won Out” conferences and Exodus International have been very successful in reaching /healing these hurting people without enabling an unhealthy and destructive lifestyle.

I’m posting this because 10 years ago, I didn’t necessarily have an outlet to share this. 10 years ago, I realized that the God that everyone claimed to worship on Sunday was not the same God I thought existed, if there even was a god. 10 years ago, this letter came from a fellow church goer, someone else’s father, to me, claiming that I hadn’t done my job as a journalist.

I’m posting this because I see all over facebook and twitter and the like everyone supporting the cause of the right to marry who you want, but I want to make sure your acting. That you’re not just sitting on facebook liking red equal signs, and telling people who you know agree with you that they’re right.

I’m posting this because 10 years ago, this email made my skin crawl and made me question the small town I was living in. And 10 years later, this makes my skin crawl and makes me question (some) of the people in that small town. And small towns all over this nation. And the big cities, too, because California is where Prop 8 started, after all.

So if this email makes your skin crawl like it did mine, then I ask this of you: We all need to dig a littler deeper, talk a little louder, and tell someone we don’t know, someone who doesn’t agree with us, why this is important. That is where we make a difference. This is how we move forward. This is how we change.

i have been quietly standing in the shade

Hey guys!

A word on the BIG NEWS happening now. There have been a lot of articles, videos, tweets, Facebook updates, the list goes on, of what’s going on, and I just have something to say.

hrc

Everyone deserves the right to be married, because love is love is love. The fact that we’re even having this discussion is mind blowing if not for the history of our country slowly speeding up to the society’s wants. This article by Scott Fujita brings to the forefront many a time when America did things that Americans should (and have) learn from. And not all at a time hundreds of years ago, when we can claim ignorance: recently, so recently that there are people around to chat with, so recently that we should be looking at the (non) issue of the right to marry and be thinking, “Oh god, our children will be so embarrassed by all of this.”

I hope that we do the right thing. I hope that the right thing is obvious. I hope that America can grow and learn from another time in our history when doing what is right is not even necessarily doing something that’s hard.

It doesn’t matter if being homosexual is a choice (which I don’t think it is.) Because even if it was, so what? People choose to marry, and remarry, and have numerous ex-spouses and no one bats an eye. Every relationship deserves the recognition and the respect and the challenge of marriage. And I, for one, can’t wait to have this be in our past, and have our children live in the bright, colorful future.

Grown.

Here’s the second half of what I’ve been working on in the garden. For Christmas, SS got me some seed bombs to plant with – they are dill, chives, and basil!

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My friend SJ also had sent me a thank you card with wildflowers inclosed – so I planted those, too! Plus, Melissa had given me some basil seeds. What a lucky woman I am, to have such wonderful friends.

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I had fresh eggs (thanks Ana!) and I wanted to make sure that the seeds got the proper nutrients, so I looked online and it turns out you can grow seeds in egg shells – so I did just that!

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This was about three weeks ago, when they were all still seeds. Then, slowly…they started to sprout over the last week!

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I know have tons of sprouts growing up – dill and basil and wildflowers, oh my! I’ll keep you in the loop as I repot these and they get even bigger!

Growing, growing, growing.

I can’t believe I didn’t post pictures from September of the plants, but alas, I did not. And now, the spring season is here and my herbs are planted and I have updates for that, too.

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And now, in March:

This was Merv when I first planted him, back in June of 2012.

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Here was Merv in the beginning of March – look how far he’s grown…except I need him to grow wide, not tall. No matter, we can fix that!DSC_0896

We just have to do a little surgery on him…

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Snip, snip! Now Merv is TWO plants!

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It took him a couple weeks, but he’s starting to grow back now!

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And, his top half has rooted…this is Sally. She needs a name plate, coming soon. I don’t know why Merv became Sally, he just did. I just write down the names I feel in my heart.

So this is my aloe plant, which started as a small baby plant wayyyyy back years ago as a window plant.

Just to show you, this is the aloe last year in March. Also, please note the flowers to the right – there are pink, and white, and some yellow.

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Look at these beasts now – out of control! The pink and the white have totally overtaken the yellow, and the white have actually started to turn pink.

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But at least the yellow is finally sprouting, despite the bullies surrounding it.

Anyways, back to aloe.

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So this is the aloe now – overgrown, sad, and it has recently started stabbing the UPS man. Seriously, I think he cut himself once. I felt horrible, and knew that it was time to put it apart…I didn’t know exactly what to do, so I of course Googled it, and researched how to fillet the aloe so I can store it.

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aloe

Step one: Remove from the aloe plant with a knife. YOU GUYS ALOE PLANTS ARE SMELLLYYY AND THEY EMIT YELLOW SAP. Don’t be alarmed, like I was, sappy and Googling “yellow slime + aloe.”

Step two: Cut the spiky sides off, and the tip w/ the sap on it.

Step three: Slice horizontally off the top green part. Then do the same for the bottom. Try to do it so the curved side is down the first time (you’ll understand when you see it.) (If you ever actually do this.)

Step four: You have aloe! Hurray! It’s slippery, isn’t it? I put mine in the freezer for burns I will inevitably suffer someday in the kitchen.

Up later…seed bombs and herbs!

live life at the bottom of the sea.

Mom and Dad came to visit. We toured LA as tourists and as seasoned vets of the city; we wine tasted, hiked, saw the Hollywood sign, sat by the pool, drank jalapeno cocktails, went to the ocean, walked the Santa Monica Pier, smiled in front of the Rose Bowl, played soccer, and laughed, laughed, laughed. My parents are the coolest.

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Thanks to Jeff for snapping so many great photos! There are more here. I can’t wait for them to come back! Thanks Mom and Dad, for such a lovely trip!